


Running

by itsabouttime



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood, Eren is oblivious, Eventual EreRi, Guns, Hiding, History of abuse, M/M, Running Away, also a side of erwin/armin because the world needs more of that, eren is completely legal in this, god help us all, lets see if im emotionally stable enough to handle this, levi is such a sap sometimes, we're getting there hang on, yeah im not sorry guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-02-13 19:03:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2161674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsabouttime/pseuds/itsabouttime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once he got out, Levi worked hard to made sure his life would be peaceful. He cut ties with everyone, changed his name, and started living a normal life. And for three years, everything went along smoothly. That was until he found the boy with the stunning green eyes behind his building. Eren was running away from something very dangerous. He called for help, and somehow, Levi found it in his heart to listen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Blind

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of ideas have been dancing in my head lately and I thought it was time to start writing a few of them down. This is my first time actually writing any fanfiction, so I'm kind of nervous. Very nervous actually. I guess we'll see how this goes. Wish me luck. Please let me know if there's any issues with anything and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Eren stumbled in between the alleys of the city, half dead. Exhaustion bleed though every one of his muscles. He was breathing heavily and hardly moving at a quick enough pace, but at least he was moving. The burning pain in his shoulder was getting worse. However tolerant to pain Eren was, the recent injury still brought tears to the young man’s eyes. Instead of giving in, he clenched his jaw and continued.

I have to…keep going…

There was no way he was going to be able to keep this pace up forever. Eren was jogging as fast as he could with a bullet wound in his arm, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough. They’d probably already noticed him missing. They were looking for him. He was going to find him. There was nothing he could do.

Eren needed a place to hide for a few hours, just so that he could rest for a little while but he didn’t know where to go. He could feel his awareness starting to slip. The edges of his vision started to turn black but Eren would not submit to the darkness. He fought to remain awake. He had to find someplace safe.

He stopped and rested against the wall of a building once he started becoming dizzy. He couldn’t resist the urge to give up now. There was no way that he was going to be able to make it. They would find him lying in the gutters and if he wasn’t already dead, they would put a bullet in his brain. Or maybe they’d drag him back. Either way, he was a dead man. 

His eyelids started to flutter and Eren knew he was done for. No matter how hard he fought against his own body, the darkness took him. And Eren didn’t want to fight it anymore. The darkness held a promise so irresistible it was hard to refuse. It promised to let him forget. To forget why he was there and what he was running from.

The legs that had been holding him up shook at the knees and Eren slowly sunk to the concrete floor. His ears started to ring and the dizziness was getting worse. God, he was so tired. He didn’t want to ever move again.

I can’t fight anymore…

*****

Levi was honestly trying to fall asleep. He had been tossing and turning in his bed for hours. Yet the blissful unawareness of sleep evaded him as it had every night for over three years. Sleep had never come easy for him before, but now, it was damn near impossible for the man to close his eyes.

The man guessed that the insomnia was a punishment delivered to him by his own body. Never getting to sleep peacefully again. It was rather mild, considering all the bad karma Levi had racked up in his life. Years of living like a monster had a funny way of catching up to him. Levi smirked at the though. He was almost certain that he deserved something much worse than this.

God, I need a smoke.

Levi rolled himself out of bed and stopped to look around his room. He had a really nice set up all to himself. He owned a bookstore and had the upstairs apartment all to himself. Though it was inconvenient for moments when he needed to smoke, since there was no balcony and the old windows really didn’t like to open or close. It all made it relatively difficult for Levi to support his unhealthy habit.

After getting dressed and finding his lighter and cigarettes in the dark, Levi strode down the stairs to his bookstore and out the back door. He leaned against the brick wall and lit up. He breathed in the smoke deeply and relaxed his shoulders. It was a mystery to him why he was all of a sudden so tense, but his instincts told him something was off. And Levi's instincts were never wrong. 

Levi looked around and noticed something on his right side and froze. He hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was. He threw his cigarette, ground it under his foot, and turned to see who it was taking up space on his property.

Damn, Levi though. It was just like he suspected. A body. Shit. The body belonged to a young man, maybe twenty years old with brown hair. He had blood running down his left arm and onto Levi’s building. 

This was dangerous. Very, very dangerous. Levi could not afford the searching and questioning that came with discovering a body. The very thought of it made him cringe. Policemen and EMS all swarming around the scene like insects was the last thing Levi needed. He had worked very hard for his life now and he wasn’t going to let anything destroy it. 

As Levi was contemplating how to fix this disaster that was in front of him, he heard a moan coming from low to the ground. So the boy wasn’t dead after all, just passed out. It didn’t matter to Levi in the slightest either way. The risk was too high, the boy still had to go.

Levi knelt down and took the boy’s chin in his hands. Yes, this boy was defiantly alive, the pulse from his neck confirmed that fact. Levi turned away from the boy slowly and was about to rise to his feet and get one of his guns when-

“Help…me…” the boy whispered. His eyes slowly started to open and Levi couldn’t help but stare. With their eyes connected, Levi found himself frozen.

Levi could swear he’d never seen anything quite as beautiful as this boy’s green eyes. Never in his life. They were that mesmerizing. It’s what made Levi stop in his tracks and forget what he had been planning a moment ago. Levi had spent most of his life destroying beautiful things like this and he promised himself that he would put an end to that destruction three years ago. He couldn't bring himself to destroy the life in those beautiful eyes. 

And those eyes were all Levi could think about as he picked up the boy and carefully carried him inside.


	2. Cursed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi has no idea what he is doing and Eren can't stay awake.

Even in the darkness, Eren could not escape the pain for too long. It was too much. It felt like a part of him was burning alive. Would it ever end? There was no way Eren was going to be able to drag himself somewhere safe if this continued. He cursed himself for being so weak. Eren had been through hell and back and there was no way, no fucking way that he was going to give up now. He’d come too far. He’d risked too much. 

Eren then began to fight the darkness that clouded his mind. He needed to get up, he needed to move, he needed to do something. He couldn’t just sit here and wait for them to find him. Eren slowly started to gain control as his mind started to clear. He realized someone was touching him, holding his chin. He started to open his eyes, praying that whoever it was would help him.

He didn’t know the man that knelt by his side, which was a relief. They hadn’t found him after all, at least not yet. After a moment, Eren could feel himself slipping again. The darkness was winning. Eren wasn’t going to be able to stay lucid no matter how hard he tried. He wasn’t going to be able to get to safety on his own, not in the state he was in now. 

He called to the man beside him for help. As the darkness began to take him again, Eren clung to the hope that the man in front of him would listen. It was all he could do. 

****  
Levi really hadn't thought this whole thing though. What was his plan, exactly? Levi didn't really have one. He hardly knew what was possessing him to lay the unconscious boy on his couch. He didn’t even know why he brought this boy into his home in the first place. And yet, here he was and in terms of a plan, Levi remained clueless. 

Worry began to creep into his thoughts. What on earth was he going to do if the kid woke up? Or died? The boy had and injury on his arm, what was Levi going to do about it? He know how to clean up minor wounds, but this could require serious medical attention. It looked like a bullet wound. Levi wasn't a doctor and he wasn't sure it would be safe to take the kid to the hospital. 

Levi ran his fingers though his undercut as he began to pace around his living room. He knew a doctor, a really good one. Better yet, he even trusted her. But he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. He didn't even know if she would even do it, considering what happened three years ago. What if she decided to turn on him? Was it worth the risk of his new life for the sake of this kid?

Mindlessly, he reached for the cell phone in the pocket of his jeans. His body knew what it was doing before he even did. The fingers typed the memorized phone number and pushed the call button as his mind was still debating. This defiantly was not a good idea. Not good at all. This could ruin his life. But god damn it, the boy with the hypnotic green eyes needed him and he trusted her. He needed to try. He was going to try. 

"Hello?" a sleepy voice on the other line said.

"Hanji? It's me. I need your help."

"...Levi? Oh my God, Levi, is that you!?" she cried. 

"Yeah Glasses, it's me."

"Levi! What the hell! You dropped off the face of the planet and I haven't heard from you since! No one has! I thought you were dead!" 

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Levi, I was so worried, my god, are you ok? Are you safe? Where are you? What have you been doing all this time? God, you could have just told me you were getting out. I would have helped you! I thought you trusted me! I would have NEVER betrayed you, you should fucking know that! What's going on? Have you contacted anyone else? What exactly is-"

"Hanji, I'm fine, I just need you to do me a favor. Listen."

****  
Levi hung up the phone and started waiting for her. He had almost forgotten how exhausting it could be to talk to her sometimes, especially when she was in an energetic mood. Turns out, she was working on a job in same city Levi moved to. And it wasn't hard to convince her to drop by at his place. If anything, it would have been harder to keep her way. She was so desperate to see him and make sure he was alive and well that she even agreed to all of his ridiculous conditions. He told her that she couldn't bring any electronic devices. No GPS in her car. She couldn't bring anyone with her or tell anyone where she was going or why. These measures were all necessary to make sure that Levi could remain safe. It wasn't that he didn't trust her. He just didn't trust the world that surrounded her, that used to surround him too. He couldn't risk going back.

But in a way he already had. By bringing this boy into his home, Levi had put his entire life on the line. He had no idea what could happen at this point, and that scared him. He wasn't in control anymore. As much as he wanted to believe that Hanji wouldn't do anything to ruin him, he still worried. There were too many unknowns in the situation to make Levi feel comfortable. The second that Levi let this boy in was the second that he lost the power over his world. And that scared him more than anything ever had. 

Levi decided that he needed a distraction, anything, to keep his mind off the disaster he just created. Levi may not have been a doctor, but he at least knew how to clean. He could start with that. The boy was absolutely filthy. Sweat, dirt, and blood covered his body. There was no way that Levi would have been able to not clean this boy. He was too much of a neat freak to let this kind of mess remain in his home for a second longer. 

Levi grabbed a few rags, soaked them with warm water and began to clean. Levi had to remove the boy’s shirt in order to clean his arms, but once he got it free over the boy’s head, he froze. All Levi could see were scars and bruises. There wasn’t a patch of skin on the kid left unharmed. There were even a few burn marks. God, what had this kid been though?

Upon seeing this damage, Levi’s eyes widened in shock. Whatever life this beautiful boy had lived before stumbling into Levi had been filled with suffering. Upon realizing the direction his thoughts had taken, Levi stopped in his tracks. There was no reason for Levi to be getting so worked up over this kid, this complete stranger. He fought for his composure back. Now was not the time start feeling sentimental over the kid, or for anyone really. He had already allowed the boy into his home and there was no going back but there was no way Levi was going to allow himself to get worked up because of this. Levi cursed himself for being so soft. This kid was going to be the death of him.


	3. Why It Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanji turns up and shit happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I started college, so it's been quite busy. Do you guys forgive me? Also, let me know if there are any spelling/grammar errors.

Surprisingly enough, once Hanji showed up, she went straight to work. She had forced Levi it to a hug, which was to be expected, but other than that she took her job very seriously. After helping her set up all of her medical supplies, Levi had left the room in order for her to have some space to work. It wasn't like he was going to be able to help much anyways. 

Levi wasn't sure what to do at that point. He'd already cleaned almost every surface of his apartment while waiting for Hanji to turn up. He didn't like times like these, when he wasn't in control. When he didn't know what was going on in his life. He didn't even know what he was doing. Against his better judgement, he'd let the kid into his home. Let him stay. He even called Hanji to make sure he was ok. He couldn't understand why though. Why had he so easy risked the life he'd built for himself?

This wasn't a good idea. 

"You're pacing," Hanji said. Levi hadn't even noticed her walk into the room. Wow, he was really starting to loose his edge.

"Hmm?" 

"I can tell that you're nervous. When you're nervous about something, you pace around. Does this kid have you that worked up?" 

"Don't worry about it, Glasses. How is the kid? I tough you would have been working on him a lot longer than that."

She stared at him for a moment before answering. "Come take a look at this for me." With that, she stunned on her heel and started walking back towards the living room. Levi followed right after her.

The scene hadn't really changed. The kid was still lying on the couch, passed out. Though now he was covered up. The room smelled faintly of alcohol and Levi could see Hanji's medical stuff lying everywhere. He inwardly groaned when he saw the mess she had made.

"So what's going on?" Levi was starting to get impatient. All this uncertainty was getting on his last nerve.

"Levi, there is nothing wrong with him." 

"What do you mean? He was shot. I should know, I cleaned up all the blood."

"Levi, look." She crouched down by the boy and pulled down the sheet that covered his chest.

All Levi could do was stare. He was frozen with shock. What the fuck? The bullet wound was gone. 

Well, that wasn't technically true. It wasn't gone. It was just...healed. Levi could see the scar exactly where the injury had been fresh just hours ago. It had been bleeding not that long ago.

"...What?" The word was hardly louder than a whisper. Needless to say, Levi was floored.

Hanji held up something in her hand. It looked like a bullet. The bullet.

"I found this on the floor."

****

He'd needed a moment. He really, really needed a moment. He just couldn't wrap his head around what he'd seen. Was he crazy? Was this all a dream? He wished it was. That was a lot easier than trying to make sense of everything. He just didn't understand.

When he brought the boy inside last night, he was bleeding. It got everywhere. Anytime Levi even brushed against the open wound, the boy would moan in pain while he was asleep. He'd been hurt. There was no question.

And yet now the boy wasn't hurt. It was if he wasn't ever hurt at all. Levi had spend god knows how long staring at the scar. Somehow he had healed from a bullet wound. In only a few hours. Without any medical attention, he was fine.

What Levi really didn't understand was how. Say that the kid really could heal that quickly, that's great. But how on earth did the bullet get out his arm? Injuries didn't fix themselves like that, at least not for normal people. Bullets had to be completely removed from the body before it could heal, or the bullet would stay inside.

How many horror stories had Levi heard over the years about ignorant doctors? Sometimes if they weren't careful, things could be left inside people after surgery. He remembered hearing about one woman that had a sponge in her torso and had to go back under the knife to get it out. That's how things worked. 

Something told Levi that this was a whole other ballgame. 

Naturally, Hanji was extremely curious about the kid. Well, so was Levi, but Hanji was something else. She was always excited about something, even about the stupid stuff. This was different. She had something to really sink her teeth into. And it was pissing Levi off. Why couldn't she just calm down?

Oh, right. There was a real live freak show asleep in his living room.

"Levi?" 

"What Hanji?" 

"Well, I was just wondering on what the next move is."

"The next move?"

"Of course! If what you're saying about him is true, and I'm not doubting you, trust me, well, can't you see how amazing this is?!" Levi could see her eyes sparkling with even more excitement than before. Ugh. How was that even possible?

"What are you talking about?"

"Levi! Isn't it obvious?! He is a scientific miracle! He healed of a bullet wound in less than a couple of hours! Isn't it amazing?! I have to figure out how he does it!"

"And just how do you plan on doing that?"

"I'd take him back to the lab of course! Just think of all the possibilities! All of the things we could learn from him!" She didn't even blink at uttering that response. Levi in the other hand was horrified. 

Had she not noticed all of the boys scars? Those weren't there on accident. Levi was willing to bet anything to say that the kid had already been someone's lab rat. It looked like he'd had already been through enough. Even if it was Hanji that wanted to, Levi wasn't going to let her touch him. It wasn't going to happen.

****

Eren was so tired. Utterly exhausted. His mind was foggy along with his memory of the last few hours. All he could tell now was that he was lying down. 

His eyes shot open. Eren was actually comfortable. That's what woke him up. He had spent years of his life living on the most uncomfortable cot imaginable. The change startled him. Obviously something was going on. 

Though his head was still spinning, he could hear voices not to far away. He was starting to be able to make out a little of the conversation. 

"...how do you plan on doing that?" That voice was hard for Eren to hear. He wasn't even sure that was what was actually said. 

"I'd take him back to the lab of course! Just think..." That Eren heard just fine. A lab. They wanted to take him to a lab. Another one. No. No! Eren didn't escape the last one just to go back to that life. He got out.He'd escaped.He was supposed to be ok now. Everything was supposed to be fine from now on. 

He had to get out of there. Now. 

****

Levi jumped up as soon has he heard a thud from the living room. He was on his feet in the blink of an eye and out of the room. Only a few paces behind, Hanji followed on his heels. 

The kid was lying on the floor, all tangled up in the blanket he'd been wrapped in. It looked like he was trying to army crawl towards the door, but it wasn't working well for him.

Levi crossed the room and knelt down to help the kid up off the floor. But as Levi reached to grab his arm, the boy freaked out. 

"No! No! Don't take me back there! Please!" He screamed. Levi watched as the kid started shaking, almost sobbing on his floor.

He glared at Hanji, as if to say "See? Now look at what you've done." Now there was no way he was going to let her take the kid anywhere near that lab of hers. Not in a million years. 

"Hey. Kid. Hey! Relax. You're not going anywhere. Calm down." Levi gripped the boys shoulders in order to get his attention. With that, he got a good look at his eyes again. They were even more amazing than he remembered. 

"...But...but... I heard.... heard you guys talking. About labs. You want to t-take me back..." Levi sighed as he realized that the kid was still shaking.

"Didn't you just hear me? You're. Not. Going. Anywhere."

Eren finally saw who was speaking to him. He had been looking at the man, sure, but now details were coming into focus. He was starting to remember. This was the man with the dark eyes, the one who pulled him off the street. 

He felt the man squeeze his shoulders tighter. 

"Nothing is going to hurt you. I promise."


	4. Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An agreement is made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys. This took me forever to write and I feel horrible about it. It was midterm week, so I've been a little stressed (I got A's and B's though, so we're good. Yay). It also didn't help that I really had no idea how this chapter was going to end. I had three different ideas in my head when I started and I didn't end up going with any of them. And then when I was halfway done with this shit, my laptop crashed. Ugh. Writing is hard. Though I do have a beta, she hasn't read this (I'm to lazy to wait for her to edit it) so if there's any mistakes, please let me know. Don't be shy. Ok, enjoy your reading.

Eren was sprinting down the familiar hallway. It was pitch black, except for the flashing red light from the alarm going off. The noise seemed radiate in his skull and it was giving him quite the headache. Not that he took the time to notice, he was too busy being dizzy from the exertion. He didn't care, though. He had to hind Mikasa. He had to know what was happening. 

"Don't..."

He was strapped down to a steel table. Blinding lights shined down at him. This was nothing new. Any second now, the doctors would rush into the room, knock him out, then he would wake up with more scars and no memory of how they got there. This torture was familiar, routine even. It had happened before, and it would probably happen again. Eren sighed and closed his eyes.

The door opened and all of the doctors filed into the room. They had face masks and gloves on already as they began the prep work. This is where they made sure that they had all of their fancy knives in order, or something. At this point, Eren didn't care. He was just waiting for them to knock him out. It was reassuring to know that no matter what they did to him, he wouldn't be able to feel it. 

With a nod from the lead surgeon, they started. Ahh, here comes the mask, Eren though. This is where he should be losing consciousness. Eren lifted his head slightly off of the table when he noticed the doctor reach for one of the many knives at his side instead of gesturing to one of the nurses to knock Eren out. His entire body froze, his blood can cold. They weren't going to use the mask. They were planning on keeping him awake the entire time. Eren started to thrash around in his restraints, trying to fight. His eyes pleaded with them to stop, but the lead doctor turned to him with a scalpel. 

"Alright, experiment number 604, let's begin."

After that, all Eren could remember was pain and red. The pain centered on his abdomen, because that is where they did most of the cutting. It seemed like there was nothing but red everywhere, from his blood. Eren slipped in and out of consciousness, but throughout his whole experience, he never forgot the pain and the red. He couldn't.

"Eren.."

The alarms were still blaring in the small space, so it made it had to hear her over the noise. But he didn't care. He had finally found her after running up and down the hallways of the facility. Part of him was worried that he might have run into a doctor instead, so he counted his blessing that he ran into his sister instead. He moved to grab her arm and get her out of there. Now that he'd found her, he could leave. They both could leave this horrible place and never return. The though almost brought tears to his eyes. 

"No, Eren, leave. Go. Now." She yanked her arm out of his grasp and turning in the opposite direction. Her hand motioned to her waist and that's when Eren noticed the gun at her hip. He was shocked, he had never seen anyone but the security guards have one. Where did she get it?

She turned back around and grabbed Eren by the shoulders. 

"Eren. Leave. Don't ever come back."

Suddenly, he was back on that operation table. Tears ran down his face as the pain gripped his entire body. He had already screamed his throat raw, but he kept trying to make as much noise as possible. Maybe someone would hear him. Maybe someone would help him.

He knew that was a lost cause. This was an evil place and he knew that deep in his soul. There was no good here. 

He kept screaming.

"Don't..."

"Don't ever come back.."

****  
Eren's index finger thumped against the spines of the books. He'd woken up after his chilling nightmare and decided that sleep probably wasn't the best thing for him. Tears brimmed his eyes every time he thought about it. His heart seized in his chest every time he thought about her. Losing family was never easy, he had decided to go exploring as a distraction. 

He discovered that he was above a bookstore. It was one of the small privately owned types, not the large chain stores that he'd seen in magazines. He decided he like that better. The area smelled like older books and Eren's shoulders relaxed as he started looking for something to read. 

Once he picked something, he sat down in one of the comfortable chairs that were placed around the store. It was nice to read. It was nice to not worry about things for a minute. Ever since he had woken up, he had been thinking about Mikasa and his scars and the man that was asleep upstairs. He didn't know what to think about the man upstairs. After the little escape attempt the day before, the man had hardly said two words to him. It would have been rather awkward had it not been for the fact that Eren spent most of the day asleep. 

So it was nice to let his mind wander from all of his worries, even if only temporarily.

Soon he zoned out. It wasn’t every hard. He hadn’t been able to sit down with a book since his mother was around, and the thought of her reading to him brought him comfort. He could remember her arms holding him and her voice as she spoke. She was always so kind to him, so loving. 

“Brat. What’s wrong?” 

Eren jumped a foot in the air at the voice that startled him. It looks like he’d been a little too involved in his reading. Levi was standing right in from of him, dressed in his pajamas. 

“Wha-what do you mean?” 

“You’re crying.”  
Eren reached up to touch his face and, sure enough, there were tears running down his checks. Huh. 

“It’s… fine. I was just thinking about something.”

Levi didn’t move, he just looked the boy up and down. Part of him wanted to ask what he was thinking about, the other wanted to roll his eyes. God, he was a mess. If it had been anyone else, he would have told them to suck it up. Levi had never felt inclined to be concerned about anyone. He hardly cared about himself half of the time, what made this kid so special? What was wrong with him?

“Anyways, I’m sorry if I woke you. I was just having trouble sleeping. Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair soon.” Eren knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay at this man’s house forever. He didn’t even know his name or how long he’d even been there. Though, he had to admit, he had no idea what he was going to do or where he was going to go. He didn’t know anyone on the outside to help him. It was a miracle that he’d even made it this far. No matter how much he wanted to stay safe where he was, he couldn’t. He had to leave. 

“Not yet kid.”

“Wait, what?”

“You don’t have a plan, do you?” The man asked. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave Eren a look. 

“Well… I was thinking of maybe… I don’t know…” Eren fumbled over his words. Truth be told, he had hardly thought about the next steps at all. He was too worried about not being a burden to the man that he hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Exactly. Kid, look, I can’t just let you run off without knowing what you’re going to do. It’d be stupid.”

“Wait, I can-“ 

“It looks like you’ve come far already. Would you really risk messing that all up by rushing out onto the field without a game plan?” With that, Eren thought of Mikasa, and everything that she had done to make sure he was safe. He thought of his mom. The man was right, there was too much at stake. Eren had to be careful. 

“I don’t want you to feel like I’m a burden. I want to take care of myself now.” 

Eren had a hard time looking into the eyes of the man as he said that. It was difficult to open up in this way, but it needed to be done. He needed the man to understand. 

“Alright, how about this? You stay here and work.”

“Work?”

The man spread his arms wide and gestured all around him. “Yes. Work. Manual labor. This is a business after all, it’s about time I got my first employee. If you work here, I’ll let you stay in my home for free. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”

“Alright. I’ll do it.” The man reached his hand out and they shook on the deal. 

“So what’s your name kid? I didn’t catch it in all of the chaos.”

“It’s Eren.” Why didn’t he give a fake name? He should have. After all, he hardly knew this man. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. But Eren had already agreed and like the man said, he had nowhere to go. 

“Ok Eren. I’m Levi. Now that we’ve got that sorted, I’ve got some questions for you. You up for it?”

“…Yeah.”


	5. Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is all Levi. Because I love Levi. That's literally the only thing I love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys. Hope you haven't forgotten about me. Things have been busy and I've been lazy, what can ya do? I was trying to establish some characters and develop the plot a little more with this chapter. Anyways, shout out to my wonderful beta that caught so many spelling errors in this it's not even funny. What would I do without her. Leave comments guys I absolutely love hearing what you have to say. It warms my icy heart. Enjoy your reading!

Levi hung up the phone and took a much needed deep breath. It had astounded him that he'd actually gone through with the promise that he'd made to Eren. He had initially put it off, wondering if it was what he actually wanted to do. He was worried if he was making the right decision. Even at that moment, he still was. 

Too late now. He'd asked Erwin for help, just as he'd promised.

Despite having been gone for so long, Erwin had still been able to anticipate Levi's actions. He figured that, eventually, Levi would want to return. He would have to, for one reason or another. It was just a matter of when that was going to happen, and it wasn't like he was wrong either. When Levi explained the situation he was in with Eren, Erwin had agreed to help, without a second thought. That worried Levi a bit. Erwin always had a plan of attack, a goal in mind, and this time Levi wasn't 100% sure what it was. Levi knew that Erwin would never do anything that would screw him over entirely, but still. It set Levi's teeth on edge that he didn't know what Erwin was thinking.

Levi tried putting the worries out of his mind. Erwin had agreed to help Eren and Levi figure out what was going on. That's all that mattered. The rest would work itself out. 

For now. 

Levi folded up some of the folders on his desk and cleaned up a bit before leaving his office. Then he went downstairs to check on the brat he left in charge of his bookstore. 

Eren had been staying at Levi's for about three weeks now, without any major problems. Well, maybe Eren wasn't too particularly thrilled about being on the couch, but it was better than the street. He could deal. 

Since their one conversation on that first night, Eren began working full time at Levi's bookstore. Levi had tried explaining to the kid that he didn't need to work so damn hard, what did he have to prove anyways? But Levi's words had flown through one ear and right out the other. Eren was determined not to be what he called a "burden" and no one was going to get in his way. He had learned how the bookstore worked within a couple of hours and did a pretty damn good job of running it. Almost as good as Levi himself. Almost. 

Levi didn't mind. It meant that he didn't have to deal with some of his annoying customers as often. And Eren made sure everything in the store was clean and organized. No arguments there. Levi then could focus more on what on earth he was going to do about the kid. 

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw Eren holding a large stack of books and following around one of his more excited customers, Armin Arlert. The little blond mushroom lived down the street and was absolutely ecstatic when he discovered that a new bookstore was opening so come to him. That was a long time ago, and Armin had been in the store almost every day since. 

Eren and Armin had hit it off right away, and Armin never seemed to leave the store now. Hell, Levi thought. Armin might as well move in, too. His book purchases nearly covered Levi's rent anyways. Eren liked to call Armin Belle sometimes, apparently because of some Disney movie that both of the dumbasses loved. 

Eren was 20, Armin was 19 and they were still watching kids movies. That was something Levi couldn't understand. Whatever, so long as Levi didn't have to be picking up any idiots from a police station or anything else that could cause problems. He really didn't give a shit what the two brats did together. Let them marathon that Disney crap if they wanted to. 

Naturally, Armin had been a little curious as to why Eren was working in the bookstore. His interest only intensified once Armin learned that Eren lived here, too. Levi had been nearby when he Armin started questioning Eren. Levi had turned, ready to interrupt with a plausible story to explain their situation before Armin noticed anything amiss. 

Turns out, Eren had beat him to the punch. Eren had explained that he was an online college student and Levi had posted an ad for a roommate. That then turned into the story that Eren gave to anyone that asked what was going on. Easy as that, the subject was dropped as they moved on to another topic of conversation. Something about a new TV show. Internally, Levi groaned. He cursed the day he had ever given the brat his Netflix password. 

They were still talking about something, Levi didn't know what, nor did he really give a shit. But they both had smiles on their faces, and Eren had a glint in his eyes. Levi had planned on sharing the news about Erwin right away, but he decided it could wait until after Armin left. With one last look at the two idiots, Levi ducked outside. He needed a smoke. He'd been doing that a lot more often lately. Hanji was going to kill him.


	6. Sitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren is alone with his thought for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a terrible human being. I know, sorry for not updating for so long. I think I have most of my ideas for where I want this story to go, so hopefully updates will be easier. However, because I am such a wonderful person (ha), the next update should come today or tomorrow. For this chapter, proofreading isn't something that ever happened. Probably should have. Sorry. Don't shoot.

Eren truly felt that this time had allowed him to really get to know himself. It was not like it had been before, there were no bars, no counting the breaths waiting for the lights to come back on. There were no needles, no knives, and no doctors in lab coats cutting into his flesh all the time. Thank God. 

There was just him. Eren was finally able to see what he was really like without the constant worry. He had always been curious as to what he would have been like if he had been a normal kid. The kind that he and Mikasa had talked about. Eren wondered if he would have been good at school. Would he have played sports? What would his friends have been like? 

Would he have been happier if everything had been different?

Thanks to Levi, Eren know knew a little more about who he was. And that was the most precious gift that Levi ever gave him. To him, this wasn’t just a place for him to crash. It wasn’t a job. It wasn’t an obligation. It was home. 

Eren finally found home, but it wasn’t complete. It needed something. Someone. 

Mikasa.

The first few nights, Eren cried himself to sleep worrying about her. He cursed himself for not being strong enough to save her. For not being strong enough to make her come with him. He missed her and he felt that it was all his fault. 

She had a funny habit of constantly putting Eren first, even over stupid things. She acted a lot like what Eren thought a mother would, and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. She cared, Eren knew that, but it would sometimes get under his skin. She blamed herself so much for what happened, so much that she became depressed for a while. Most of the time, Eren would try to comfort her, but he remembered a few times here his patience had been waning. 

There were times that he snapped at her. He did this sometimes when she needed his assurances the most. He’s left her those times, just as he had in the end. 

These thoughts killed him. They never seemed to go away.

So far, Eren had tried to distract himself from the problem. He would go hang out at Armin’s or go bug Levi, but in the end it made him feel guiltier. Mikasa could be dead for all he knew. He should not be enjoying himself with other people. He should be looking for her. That should always come first. 

So when Levi came up to him a week ago and told him that his friends were coming to help, Eren was at first, overjoyed. They were finally that much closer to finding her. Eren had been so relieved, he had embraced Levi without even thinking. Apparently Levi hadn’t expected the sudden hug either, but Eren couldn’t find it in his heart to care about the awkwardness. He didn’t give a damn. It was no way as bad as the time Levi had walked in on Eren stepping into the shower. Now, that had been awkward. 

But now that those friends of Levi’s were here, Eren was a little afraid. He never thought about having to tell everyone about what had happened, he had assumed that they would all knew. After all, he had already told Levi everything. Wouldn’t they just ask Levi everything? No, apparently, they wanted all of the details straight from the horse’s mouth. They were all crowded about Levi’s book store now, waiting for him to come and tell them. Tell them how much of a coward he had been.

He had to tell them how he had abandoned his sister to save his own skin.

“Eren, how long do you plan on hiding in the bathroom?” Eren heard the question through the wood of the restroom door, and it had startled him. He hadn’t heard anyone come up.

“Ummm….”

“Let me in.”

“What?”

“Open the door.”

Eren reached over to the doorknob and turned it. He had been sitting on the floor, facing the sink beside the door. 

Levi stepped in, closing the door behind him. He took one look around and opted to lean against the sink rather than sitting on the floor.

“You know that they can only help you at this point, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“So what’s wrong?”

“I… I just don’t want them to…” Eren found it difficult to speak. 

“You don’t want them to think that you’re the loser who left his sister behind.” Levi crossed his arms across his chest, something he did when he knew he had everything figured out. And he did, there was no doubt about that. It was almost like he could read Eren’s mind sometimes. 

“…Yeah…”

“Kid, look. Look at me. I’ve known these guys for a long time. A long ass time. Trust me when I say that they will understand. They have all seen so much, so many bad things. Like me, they know bad when they see it. And I have never, not once, thought you to be a bad person, Eren. Neither will they”

“Come out when you’re ready.” With that, Levi walked out of the small room.

Eren was left with his thoughts. He would never stop being grateful for having Levi in his life. He had only been in his life for a short while, yet he already knew so much about Eren. He could tell how he was feeling after just a glance. 

With Levi’s calming words spurring him on, Eren picked himself up off the floor and started to leave the bathroom.

He was being ridiculous. His amazing sister needed him and he had another amazing person willing to do anything to help. Why was he spending his time sitting on a goddamn bathroom floor?


	7. Protection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There;s a little more on Levi because I love him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't even supposed to happen, I swear. It was originally just a little side thing that was going to be in a chapter, then it grew a mind of its own. You would think I'd have some control of this thing. Nope. Also, I needed a scene with Hanji and Levi acting all cute. Cuz they're besties. Hopefully there will be one more chapter coming soon-ish, I think. It'll have a little more plot, less feelings, if we're lucky. Who knows. These characters do what they want, I swear I've lost all control.

Levi shut the door behind him and walked back towards his friends waiting in the bookstore.

Ugh. He didn’t know if he should use that word. Friends. Is that what they were? He hadn’t spoken to these people in years, so how friendly could their relationship now be? He wasn’t sure. To be honest, he wasn’t 100% sure that they were going to wholeheartedly agree to this plan. 

Whatever that plan was. That’s what they were here to figure out. Well, they would as soon as Eren got his ass downstairs. Then they could get started on figuring out what the hell they were going to do. First, they needed to get as much detail from Eren as humanly possible. Anything that could be used to help find his sister. Then, they would hopefully be able to come up with a plan of attack once they had a better idea of what they were dealing with. 

There weren’t many people that showed up, after all, Levi hadn’t wanted to overwhelm Eren with a crowd of new faces. There were just a few. Levi’s old boss, Erwin was there. He was the one that Levi had first contacted to help Eren. It was interesting, seeing him again. It had been years. Apparently, he lost his right arm on a mission a year ago. That was a sight that Levi hadn’t exactly been expecting. Other than that though, he basically looked the same. Same strong build. Same authoritative, yet not demanding tone. Same Erwin.

And where there was Erwin, Mike was not far behind. As soon as Levi opened the door to the bookstore, Mike had waltzed in, taken one look at the place, and gave it one long sniff. Levi had assumed everything was to his liking when Mike didn’t say anything after the sniff. He was a strange guy, same as ever. 

Hanji was there, of course. Once she knew where Levi was it was hard enough to get her to go away. He had to promise that he’d let her come back soon in order to get her to leave. 

“Leviiiiii,” Hanji whined. “Where is he? I wanna ask him some questions! It’s really important! I want to take a look as the bullet wound from a few weeks ago-“

“Can’t you let someone take a shit in peace?” 

Hanji whined some more as Erwin and Mike chuckled at their banter. 

“Oh, we missed you Levi. Who else can stop Hanji once she’s focused on something?” Erwin said.

“You could try handcuffs,” said Levi. 

Hanji smiled. “Kinky.”

“Ok, that’s enough. I can’t handle this.” Erwin said.

“Then cover your ears, Erwin. Let the adults talk for a while.” Hanji said with a sly grin on her face.

To anyone else, this would look like a shameless attempt at flirting on Hanji’s part. But Levi knew her far too well for that. She was harmless. It would only take one thing to bring her back to reality. 

“How’s Mobilt doing, Hanji?” Levi asked.

“Ahhhhh he’s wonderful. We’re so great. He still works with me in the lab. And we just bought this amazing house last month that we just started decorating, were going to need more space, what with the baby-“

“Have you thought of a name yet?”

“Oh, well we don’t know the gender yet so nothing is decided yet, but I was thinking James or Jake if it’s a boy and…”

This is where Levi zoned out. Once he got her started on a mundane topic like this, he knew she would babble for hours. No other active participants needed. That allowed Levi to roam back into his own thoughts for a second.

Levi was really starting to get attached to that kid. It scared him, how familiar Eren had become to him. He was practically an open book, wearing his emotions on his sleeve all of the time. It was rather endearing. 

Levi had started noticing his overprotection of Eren weeks ago. Around the time he had contacted Erwin. It petrified him at first, how utterly devoted he was to this kid, but he knew there was nothing he could do. There was nothing that could stop this now.

He was too far gone. 

He noticed that when he would catch himself staring at Eren. He did that a lot. And when Eren wasn’t around, he was thinking about him, most of the time without even realizing it. He would spend his time imagining Eren, knowing every curve and sharp angle of the boy’s body by heart. Committing it to his long term memory, just in case.

He never wanted to forget Eren. At this point, he didn’t think he could. 

But Eren was young. So young. He still had so much ahead of him, so much of his life to look forward to. And it would have been wrong for Levi to take advantage of Eren while he was living here.

Levi was in charge of his protection. From that point on, that’s all Levi would allow himself. That’s all he would let himself be. Protection. 

Moments later, Levi was ripped from his thoughts as Hanji damn near attacked Eren when he walked into the room. It had only been a second and Hanji was already showering Eren with millions of questions he could have no hope answering. He couldn’t get a breath in with Hanji’s questioning anyways. 

Levi reached for the back of Hanji’s jacket and pulled her off Eren. “Bad Hanji. Bad. Down. Sit.” He dragged her to a nearby recliner and made sure that she sat down in it. 

Levi clapped his hands and turned to his audience.

“Alright. Let’s get this show on the road.”


	8. Hidden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren grows a pair and we finally get some actual plot here. And I love Armin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter, I hope you like it. I wrote it after my last final. If there are any spelling/grammar mistakes, let me know.

“Alright, Eren. I know that this probably isn’t the most comfortable situation imaginable, but if we’re going to help. We’re going to require as many details as possible. We don’t want to be running into a fight blind. So tell us everything that you remember. Don’t leave anything out,” Erwin said. 

It wasn’t hard for Eren to understand Erwin’s point, but it unnerved him. He actually had to tell his story now. He never thought that this would be something that could happen.

“I… I’m just not sure how to start...” Eren fiddled with his hands and avoided eye contact with everyone in the room. He glanced up at Levi with pleading eyes. Save me. 

“What happened in this lab that you were in? What did they do?” Levi asked. 

“They tested me. Lots of needles, lots of pills, all kinds of stuff. I heal really fast, so they were messing around with that, I think.”

“Eren, when I first met you, you healed from a bullet wound in less than 24 hours. The bullet was still in you at the time, and somehow it ended up on the floor. What is the extent of your healing ability?” Hanji asked.

“Well, the doctors would put stuff into me all the time. Small things. To see if they would come out. Whatever they would put into me would always come out from wherever they cut me to put it in. It would always come out before the wound would close.”

“What else?” 

“They would break bones. Lots of them. All of them. To see how quickly they would heal. Over time, my recovery time grew shorter and shorter. It got to the point where they would break my spine and I’d be fine in 2 days.”

“Is that what they were doing the entire time?”

“No. towards the end they started up something different. They stopped breaking my bones and tried to get me to do something. They called it transforming. They wanted me to transform into something, I don’t know what. But they called it the next phase. I don’t know that they were talking about.”

“How long had they been trying to get you to transform?” Erwin asked.

“A few weeks, I think. They were taking it slow. They said that they wanted to make sure that nothing went wrong.”

“Do you remember what happened the day you escaped?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure what was happening then either. The doctors had me lying on a table, about ready to operate on me. Then an alarm went off and they started panicking. They were freaking out. They took me off the table and locked me in a spare room across the hall. The door locked automatically behind them, but a few minutes after they left, it unlocked. I started wandering around the hallways, looking for my sister. I didn’t get to see here often but I knew that she was there. The alarm was still going off. I finally found Mikasa and we started running towards the exit. But then a bunch of guards showed. She took out a gun and told me to run. When I turned to run, one of the guards shot me. Mikasa screamed at me to keep going. So I ran. Then I passed out and woke up here.”

“Were you always in captivity, Eren?” Levi said.

“Uhh… no. I lived with my parents when I was little.”

“Are they still around?” Erwin asked.

“No, my mom was killed when I was 7 and my dad… I’m not sure where he is.” 

“What happened to your dad?”

“Well, my dad was a scientist. He worked in a lab doing stuff…I’m not sure what it actually was. Anyways, he got into some kind of trouble with the people he worked for. Big trouble. He stole something, something super important to these people. I don’t know what it is or what he did with it. All I know is that they… came after us because of what he did.”

“What happened next?” Hanji asked. 

“Someone broke into my house. No one was around. My dad was… who knows where. My sister and I were getting firewood. My mom said that if we got some wood, we could have a bonfire in the backyard that night. While we were in the woods, Mikasa, my sister and I saw smoke. It came from the direction of our house. When we got back, everything was on fire. I tried to run into the house to get my mom, but our neighbor held me back… I heard my mom screaming before she died. I couldn’t save her. I wanted to.” 

Eren stopped and realized that he was angry. He was mad at his dad, at Hannes for stopping him, at himself for leaving. There was nothing he could do now, but he felt rage course through his veins. This was the day that everything in his life turned to hell. He should have done something, anything to make sure that this didn’t happen. He should have been stronger. 

“Why wasn’t your dad around?” Erwin asked.

“He had run off again. He would sometimes disappear, gone for months at a time. He wouldn’t even tell us where he was going half the time. He would just go.”

“Did he say anything to you before he left? Did he act any different?” Hanji asked.

“Yeah, actually. Now that I think about it. As he was walking out the door, he said to me, ‘Eren, when I get back, I’m going to tell you about something. I’ll show you the basement.’ When he said that, he held up the basement key that he kept on a necklace around his neck. I was shocked, no one, not even my mom was allowed into the basement. I didn’t see him after that, so I have no idea what was down there. There might not even be anything left after the fire.”

“So what happened after the fire?” 

“Umm… Mikasa and I stayed with our neighbor, Hannes for a bit. I’d say about a week, before… someone grabbed us. My sister and I were sleeping in the guest room, and I woke up and saw someone holding a napkin or something to my face. I passed out and woke up in the lab.”

“Do you remember the town that you lived in with your parents?”

A new voice piped up from across the bookstore. The person started walking towards the center of the room, where Eren was. 

“He lived in Chicago. The suburbs. Lake Zurich, to be exact. 5439 Lions Dr., bought by a Dr. Grisha Jeagar in 1988.”

“ARMIN?! What the hell are you doing here?!” Eren screamed. 

“I’ve been here the whole time. If you guys are having a secret meeting, you should have remembered to lock the door.”


	9. Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look at the name. It's pretty self explainatory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. So it's been a while, I know. Don't hate me. I had a bad case of writers block. Unlike the smart people on this site, I don't have any prewritten chapters. I'm just writing as I go along. Trust me, I won't make that mistake again.
> 
> Anyways, say thanks to my beta tastemylighningbolts. She encouraged me to write more fluff. I suck at fluff. So there's that. Also, I'm going to try and write some smut for the next chapter, but I'm making no promises with this. I've never written smut before. Although, I'm guessing that writing smut is better than doing homework. 
> 
> Also, my beta is currently studying for a philosophy exam that is tomorrow and I'm too lazy to properly edit this, so if there's any mistakes, let me know. I don't bite most of the time. 
> 
> And thanks for reading this. I love when people leave me comments and kudos, even though I don't deserve them. If it weren't for you guys, I'm not sure I would have been able to push it this far.
> 
> Now enough of me, you can go read the fic.

It was later in the afternoon when Levi settled down in his office to start managing the paperwork for the bookstore. He had to keep track of inventory, and profit and all the other responsibilities that came with owning your own business. He was not a big fan of this work because it meant that Levi had to wear his stupid glasses. To Levi, glasses meant weakness. He could never show weakness. Never. 

About an hour into his work, there was a knock at the door. 

"Come in." Levi said. He didn't look up as the figure opened the door and walked into the office. He was trying to focus on the excel spreadsheet that was open on his laptop. Not only could Levi not work the program right, but the numbers on the file were starting to give him a headache. 

"Uhhh... are you Levi?" With this, Levi looked up from his work. There was a kid about Eren's age standing awkwardly at the door. He'd never seen this brat in his life. What was he doing in his house?

"Who the fuck are you?" 

"Well, I'm Jean. Uh, Eren's...friend." The boy looked terrified. 

"What do you want?" Levi still had no idea why this kid was in his house. What the hell. 

"Um, well. Eren showed up and met Armin, yeah? And Armin said that he could borrow some of my clothes since he didn't have much... or anything really..."

Levi took the glasses off his head. "What's your point?"

"That was two months ago.."

"And...?"

"He... I was just... ok, look. Eren needs clothes. I'm sick of him asking to borrow my underwear. It's weird. He's weird. But yeah. Clothes. Buy him some. For my sake." With that, the boy named Jean stood up and walked out of his office. 

Now that Levi thought about it, he had bought Eren a few things from Target when he first showed up, but he met Armin soon after that and his clothes were just there. He never really noticed how they got there. But that was understandable since he really wasn't someone that knew anything about clothes. Every once and a while he'd let Hanji have her fun playing dress-up with a full sized Levi doll. Levi then figured that she'd probably be the best person to take the brat shopping. He pulled out his phone. 

TO HANJI: Take the brat shopping. Apparently he needs clothes. I'll give you the cash.

FROM HANJI: Awww, levi i think hed like it better if u took him shopping ;)

TO HANJI: I'm busy.

FROM HANJI: and im pregnant. shouldnt be walking around and i also have a date with game of thrones. yeah. youll be fine, just take him to the mall or something. his natural teenage instincts will prob kick in, right? sure.

TO HANJI: We can no longer be friends. 

FROM HANJI: muhahahahahaha. oh though id love to see u 2 on ur motorcycle together, it wont work if u actually manage to buy things. the keys to my car are on the table. 

Levi got up from behind the desk and went to go find the brat. It was time to get out of his comfort zone. 

*****  
Levi pulled up to the parking lot and counted his blessings. Since it was a Tuesday, there was no one around. The lack of stupid people that usually surrounded him was wonderful. It was like an early Christmas present. 

Once they walked through the doors, Levi started moving toward the coffee shop.

"Ok Eren, here's some cash. Let me know when you're done. I'll be at Starbucks." 

Levi started walking. But apparently Eren wasn't having that. He quickly walked up to Levi's side, looped their arms together, and steered Levi in the opposite direction. 

"Kid, what are you doing."

"I can't believe that you thought I'd let you walk away. This is my first time at a mall. So, not happening."

Levi rolled his eyes. "So you're saying that I'm never allowed to leave you alone? Ever?"

Eren paused before at Levi's comment. 

"Yeah." He slowed their pace a little. "That's exactly what I'm saying."  
*****  
Levi started unlocking the door to the bookstore once they got home. It was hours later. They had spent way more time and money shopping that Levi had originally anticipated. He'd grabbed as many bags as he could and walked into his store. 

He quickly realized that his walking path was blocked by a crap ton of people on his goddamn floor. It looked like Erwin and Armin were working on some computer bullshit and Hanji laid in a mess of her own creation. The sight of it made Levi get another headache. He started to maneuver around the bodies and papers and open laptops. Secretly, he wondered why he even bothered with trying. If their shit got stepped on, it wouldn't be his problem. 

Erwin looked up from his screen and somehow detangled himself from Armin and their mess. 

"Do you need any more help?" 

"Yeah. There's a crap ton more shit in the car. Knock yourself out." 

"How much did you guys end up buying?" Hanji asked, laughing. 

"Too much." Eren said. "I didn't think it'd end up to be this much." A light blush covered his cheeks. He looked up at Levi, somehow blushed even harder, and ran out the door with a quick "I'll go get more bags." Levi started to feel a little bit warmer himself, but he chose to ignore it. It didn't matter.

Once Eren was out of the room, Levi noticed three sets of eyes staring at him. Hanji, Erwin and Armin had all stopped what they were doing in order to look at him. 

Levi sighed. "What did I do now?"

"YOU TWO ARE SO PRECIOUS AHHHHH I CAN'T HANDLE IT!!!!!!!!!" Hanji screamed. Levi just rolled his eyes and started walking up the stairs. 

"I'll talk to you later, assholes."

"Hey! What about the rest of the bags?"

Levi cocked a half smile. "Eren's got em."


	10. You see me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here come the feelings. Everybody run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. Long time no see. You're all looking great, as usual.
> 
> Anyways, here's the chapter I should have posted a long ass time ago. As usual, please don't hate me. Laziness and writer's block are not kind to me. Neither were finals, those fucked me up, but that's a whole other issue. 
> 
> This chapter comes right before the smut (which I still haven't written yet) but for those of you that might be uncomforable with the sexy times, it will all be in the next chapter and you should be able to just skip right over it. I'll be sure to update the tags too so yall can be prepared for the disaster that's to come. 
> 
> Wish me luck with that next chapter, especially since I haven't written smut before. We'll see how it goes. If it takes me forever to update, just send me a bunch of comments. Those always seem to get me off my lazy ass and I love hearing from you guys. 
> 
> Peace out.

The weekend following Eren and Levi's shopping trip, Hanji mentioned that she was going to spend the night driving back to see her husband. Erwin had plans to go back to his hotel and, like usual, Armin was planning on going with him. Purely for the sake of research purposes, or so they said, but no one believed them for a second. Eren had noticed Armin hiding so many hickeys in the past couple days. It had made Eren wonder why they even wanted to bother hiding their relationship in the first place. It didn’t really make that much sense, but Eren figured it was probably better to let it slide until Armin was ready to fess up. He did not want to pressure the poor kid or anything. 

Up until now, Eren had been unable to describe how bittersweet this entire experience was for him. On one hand, he felt so blessed to be where he was now. He was among friends, had a warm place to sleep, and had a good job. He had Levi. He was on top of the world. At the same time, Eren felt a guilt crushing him every time he felt really happy. Eren wanted Mikasa to be with him. He wanted her to see his life now, how much it had changed for the better. He wanted her to meet everyone, especially Levi. Eren thought that she’d really like him, they were so similar. This situation made his heart hurt in the worst way. 

Once everyone around Eren was planning on being otherwise engaged with their significant others and most likely doing things that significant others do during their alone time, Eren started feeling very lonely. At times like this, Eren would usually go spend some time with Armin, but it never seemed like enough. Armin was not the person that Eren wanted to spend all his time with. Eren wanted the attention from someone who, so far, has treated him better than he had ever dreamed.

Now, with everyone out of the house, Eren was going to tell Levi about his feelings. He knew that Levi would never hurt him intentionally, and it was time that he let him know how what was going on. Eren felt that by not telling Levi how he felt, he was indirectly lying to the man. Levi deserved to know and Eren was never that good at keeping his feelings bottled up in the first place, so what the hell. 

Eren raised his hand and knocked on Levi’s door. “And so it has begun…” Eren thought to himself. There was no way he was going to be able to back out now. 

When Levi opened the door, Eren's courage nearly vanished at the sight of the man. There was no way he was going to be able go through with this. Levi was way too far out of his league and Eren was so inexperienced. A virgin, there's no way that Eren would even stand a chance.   
"Is everything ok Eren?" Levi asked in a soft tone. This was not going to be easy. To Eren, Levi was his the one thing that he could depend on. So far, Levi had done nothing but earn Eren’s uttermost respect and admiration. Levi did not see Eren as a basket case or damaged goods, he just saw Eren. He saw right down to his core. And Eren was suddenly terrified at the idea that his confession would change how Levi saw him. There was no way that Eren would have been able to survive that, it would have been worse than Levi laughing in his face. Eren prayed that this would not change the way they connected, even if Levi turned him away. 

Eren turned his focus away from his inner turmoil and swallowed hard. "Yeah. I just… wanted to talk to you. Is that ok?”

Immediately, Levi side-stepped to let Eren come into his room. “What’s on your mind?” Levi asked as he swept his bangs from his eyes. Eren was confronted by Levi’s strong gaze and some of his worries evaporated. This was Levi he was talking about. He would never hurt him. 

“I just really wanted to thank you, for everything. I think about how my life was a few months back, and it's so much better now because of you." He could feel his eyes starting to sting and he took a deep breath to steady himself. 

"I cannot even imagine where I would have ended up if I hadn’t ran into you." With that last word, Eren held back a sob. Tears were running down his cheeks now and he moved to swipe them away.

Eren sat on the bed and continued to wipe his eyes. Levi sat next to him and took a moment before he said anything. He made an effort to make sure that what he said next made sense to the poor kid. 

"Eren. You don't have to thank you for being a decent human being. You don’t have to thank me for not throwing you back on the streets. Everything I've done to help you I did because you deserve it. You don’t owe me anything and I don’t regret meeting you that night. I just wish that I could do more to help." 

Eren paused and looked up at Levi. He reached towards the open space between them and grabbed Levi’s hand.

"You've done so much for me, what are you talking about? You gave me medical attention, food, shelter, a job, new clothes, your goddamned Netflix password! You're working to help me find my sister. There's nothing else I could ever ask for. Literally, nothing."

Eren looked up at Levi once more. He couldn't stop looking at him. It was the most wonderful face he'd ever seen. Without realizing it, Eren started getting closer. He couldn't really help it, it was almost like he was in a daze. Unlike Eren, Levi knew exactly what was happening. They were two seconds away from having their lips touch, something Levi had caught himself thinking about often lately. There was no question to whether or not he wanted this. The answer was yes. It had always been yes. 

With one swift movement, Levi closed the space between them. Though Eren initiated this, it was obvious to Levi that Eren was rather clueless when it came to things like kissing. Levi sensed a hint of hesitation from the kid, and the kiss was very slow and tender. Suddenly, like the flip of a switch, Eren placed one hand on the back of Levi's neck and another on his shoulder and he had taken over control. He was more knowledgeable that Levi had originally anticipated, not that he was complaining. 

Levi started to slow their pace and then began to pull away a little. The two were breathing heavily and Eren looked confused. "Is everything ok?" Eren asked.

"Yeah... I just wanted to make sure that you were ok. That this is what you wanted. You don’t have to happen if you don’t want it to." Levi said.

"I want this. I want you." Eren said without hesitation. Eren started reaching for him again but Levi caught his hands and held them still. 

"Are you sure? 100%?" Levi asked.

Eren rolled his eyes. "Levi, I wanted you when I met you, I want you now, and I'll STILL want you two years from now. I don't plan on anything changing on my end. Unless... you don't want to? I mean it's fine or whatever if you don't."

"No, Eren. I want to, of course I want to. It's just that I'm worried. I’m a lot older than you and I don't want to make you feel like I'm pressuring you into anything. You don't have to prove anything to me. We can go slower if you want to."

"I know we can go slower if I asked. " Eren started to grin. "The problem is.... I really don't want to."


End file.
